Alopecia has been a problem afflicting mankind and animals for thousands of years. In many individuals, alopecia causes embarrassment, psychological problems, including depression, and can affect one's self image and feelings of sexuality. Alopecia has been hypothesized to have various etiologies in males and females, many of which involve gonadal steroids. Alopecia is more common in men (e.g., male pattern baldness or androgenic alopecia) than in women (e.g., female pattern baldness). Cosmetic research has devoted millions of dollars and countless hours of research to solve this problem.
In itself, hair loss is a natural phenomenon. Hair growth follows a cycle which involves the birth and development of the follicle, a stationary phase, and a final phase during which the hair is expelled. This alternation between the phases of growth (the anagenic phase), regression (the catagenic phase), and the rest (the telegenic phase) is due to the specific secretion of the hair follicle which acts as a gland, and progressively produces a mass of keratin which it eliminates and replaces after a resting period. The cycle begins the development of the hair follicle that rises up from the dermis which contains large numbers of mesenchymatous cells, resulting in the formation of a dermal papilla. In the final stage (the anagenic phase) the cells surrounding the dermic papilla divide actively every 12 hours in order to produce cells which line up, grow longer, and begin to keratinize. This is hair growth. During the catagenic phase mitosis no longer occurs and the bulb detaches itself from the papilla and rises towards the surface. In the telogenic phase the hair is fully keratinized and is ready to be expelled. After three to four months, another mitotic cycle begins in the germination zone of the hair and another hair follicle is formed.
Although a variety of techniques have been employed to treat alopecia, there remains a need in the art for methods and compositions for this purpose. The present invention fulfills this need and provides further related advantages.